Silent Sniper Copyright 2002-2005 by Max Gratton Version 2.00 Last updated May 20, 2005 Contents 1. Introduction & System Requirements 2. Preferences 3. Auctions 4. Updating Auctions 5. Bidding 6. Searching 7. Warranties & Updates 8. License Agreement 9. Questions? 10. Troubleshooting 1. Introduction Silent Sniper is shareware. The evaluation period is limited to 10 trials, and each trial allows Silent Sniper to operate for 24 hours. After the 24 hours is over, Silent Sniper will automatically shut down. You will not be able to use Silent Sniper after the evaluation period is over. To purchase Silent Sniper visit http://www.silentsniper.com. Before initially using Silent Sniper, you should set your personal auction preferences, including username and password. You should also synchronize the auction time. System Requirements Ą Operating Systems - Windows 98 or above - Macintosh OS X or above Ą RAM - 4MB Ą Hard Drive Space - 8 MB of free space Ą Internet Connection Silent Sniper is best viewed on a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Smaller resolutions may not allow for full viewing of auction titles and prices. 2. Preferences Silent Sniper can store all your personal auction preferences, including username, passwords and email address. It is also possible to have Silent Sniper automatically update tracked auctions and conduct saved searches at specified times. 2.1 Setting auction preferences To edit your personal auctions preferences, select preferences from the "File" menu. Silent Sniper can also be set to auto update auctions at a specified time. If you do not wish to auto update auctions, select never. Auctions can also be updated every day at the specified time, or can be updated at specified intervals. Silent Sniper can perform searches with auto updates. Select the "Perform searches with update" checkbox to activate the automatic searching capability. Silent Sniper can automatically dial your ISP prior to making snipe bids or updates. You can set Silent Sniper to automatically check for an internet connection x minutes prior to your bid or update. If no connection is present, Silent Sniper will attempt to dial up you ISP using the PPP setting. Make sure you save your changes before exiting the preferences window. Otherwise, the new preferences will not take affect. 2.2 Synchronizing Silent Sniper time Silent Sniper can synchronize your computer's time with the auction site time. This can be done from anywhere in the program using Command-T (Apple-T), or by selecting "Update time" from the "Manage" menu. Silent Sniper will try to accurately synchronize the time with the auction site time. However, due to network transfer time, there may be slight variances, depending on the network load. Please keep this in mind when setting automated bids. 3. Auctions 3.1 Adding new tracked auctions New auctions can be added using Command-N (Apple-N) , or by selecting "New" from the "File" menu. Enter the auction URL or item number. 3.2 Deleting tracked auctions Auctions can be deleted by selecting the auction and using Command-D (Apple-D), or by using the delete button. 3.3 Viewing an auction 3.3.1 Updating an auction Auctions can be updated individually from the "View Item" window using the "Update"button. 3.3.2 Bidding on an auction Bids can be placed for an item using the "Bid" button. A new bidding window will appear. See bidding for more information. 3.4 Opening auction in browser An auction may be opened in the computer's default browser by selecting the auction and using the "Open Browser" button. 3.4 Bidding on an auction Select the auction and press the bid button. See bidding for more information. 3.5 Setting a timed bid ("snipe") Select the auction and press the new snipe button. See bidding for more information. 4. Updating Auctions 4.1 Updating all tracked auctions All of the tracked auctions can be updated at once using Command-U (Apple-U), by selecting "Update Auctions" from the "Manage" menu, or by using the "Update List" button. 4.2 Automatically updating auctions Silent Sniper can also be set to update auctions at specified times. See setting preferences for more information. 4.3 Updating individual auctions Auctions can be updated individually in the "View Item" window using the "Update" button. 5. Bidding Silent Sniper can place bids immediately, or place bids later ("known as sniping"). 5.1 Placing immediate bids Bids can be placed immediately by selecting the auction and pressing the "Bid" or "New Snipe" buttons from the "Auctions" window, by using the Command-B (Apple-B), or selecting "Bid" from the "Manage" menu. 5.2 Saving timed bids Bids can be saved for timed bidding later by selecting the auction and pressing the "New Snipe" button from the "Auctions" window, by selecting "New Snipe" from the "Manage" menu. The "New Auction Bid" form allows you to specify when the bid should be placed. The time specified is measured as seconds before the ending auction time. The "Bid Now" button will place bids immediately. The "Bid Later" button will save the timed bid for later. 5.3 Placing bids Silent Sniper will automatically fill out the username and password for the bidding form. The default quantity is one. For dutch auctions, the quantity can be changed. Silent Sniper will not place bids for quantities larger than currently up for auction. The bid should be your maximum proxy bid. Silent Sniper places bid as if they were placed using the auction site forms. The status of a bid will be shown in the box at the bottom. 5.4 Managing Snipes Snipes can be managed using the "Current Snipes" window. To open the "Current Snipes" window, press the "Snipes" button in the "Silent Sniper" window, or select "Snipes" from the "Manage" menu. Snipes can be edited or deleted from the "Current Snipes" window until the time specified for bidding. 5.5 Bid Groups The bid groups feature allows you to select and item you are looking to purchase, and select multiple matching auctions. Silent Sniper will keep bidding until one of the matching auctions has been successfully purchased by you. Silent Sniper will use the same maximum bid each time, and will check to see if you are the highbidder once the auction is complete. If you are not the highbidder, Silent Sniper will load the next matching auction, and attempt to place another snipe bid. All auctions are bid in order of ending time. Here is how bid groups work. Item #1 - User selects a bid of $10.00, with three auctions selected. Auction #1 - User outbid at $10.50, Silent Sniper loads next auction Auction #2 - User outbid at $12.50, Silent Sniper loads next auction Auction #3 - User is highbidder at $10.00, Silent Sniper closes bid group. Item #2 - User selects a bid of $10.00, with three auctions selected. Auction #1 - User is highbidder at $10.00, Silent Sniper closes bid group. Auction #2 - Auction is never bid on by Silent Sniper Auction #3 - Auction is never bid on by Silent Sniper Item #3 - User selects a bid of $10.00, with three auctions selected. Auction #1 - User outbid at $10.50, Silent Sniper loads next auction Auction #2 - User outbid at $12.50, Silent Sniper loads next auction Auction #3 - User outbid at $11.50, Silent Sniper has no additional auctions to load at this time. NOTE that once a winning bid for a bid group is completed, Silent Sniper will close the bid group, even if additional auctions are added are the winning bid is placed. To reopen the bid group, you need to create a new bid group. 5.5.1 Viewing My Bid Groups Select "Bid Groups" from the "Manage" menu. 5.5.2 Edit A Bid Group Select the bdi group, and press the edit button. You can change the description, price and snipe time for the bid group. 5.5.3 Viewing Bid Group Auctions Select the bid group, and press the "Auctions" button. A new window will appear showing the matching auctions for the specified bid group. You can highlight an auction and view the contents in your web browser ("View" button), or remove an auction from the list ("Delete" button). 5.5.4 Deleing A Bid Group Select the bid group, and press the "Delete" button. Any current snipes for that bid group will also be deleted. 5.5.5 View Winning Bid Group Auction To view the winning auction for your bid group, select the bid group and press the "Winner" button. The winning auction will open up in your web browser. 5.5.6 Adding A New Snipe Bid Select "New Bid Group" from the "Manage" menu, or press the "Add" button in the bid groups window. For each bid group, specify a description, maximum price, and ending snipe time. 5.5.7 Add Auction To Bid Group From the "New Snipe" window, select the appropriate bid group from the pull down menu in the "Add To Bid Groups" section, and press the "Add" button. This auction will be loaded with the pending snipes in the selected bid group. 6. Searching The search window show all of the currently saved searches. An auction may fall under multiple search keywords, but will only appear in the database once. 6.1 Adding searches Only the keywords field is required. A price range for the search can be specified. Both upper and lower bounds are not required. The search can be limited to only a specific category. Finally, all new search items can be automatically added to the auction tracker by selecting the checkbox. This is only recommended for small searches. 6.2 Deleting searches Deleting a search will also remove all associated searched auctions. 6.3 Modifying searches Saved search terms can be modified at any time. Modifying a search may lead to the deletion of saved searched auctions. 6.4 Viewing searches The "View Items" window will initially show only new search auctions. 6.4.1 Deleting individual auctions Individual auctions can be deleted from the search database using the "Delete" button. 6.4.2 Add Auction to Tracker Individual auctions can be added to the "Auctions" window using the "Add To Tracker" button. 6.4.3 Marking an auction as read The "Mark Read" button will mark the selected auction as read. 6.4.4 Marking all read The "Mark All" button will mark all the auctions in the search as read. 6.4.5 Open Browser The "Open Browser" button will open the selected auction in the default system browser. 6.4.6 Show new The "Show New" button will show all the new auctions in the search. 6.4.7 Show all The "Show All" button will show all the auctions in the search. 6.4.8 Unmark all The "Unmark All" button will mark all the auctions in the search as new. 6.5 Searching 6.5.1 Run all saved searches. Select "Perform Searches" from the Manage menu. 6.5.2 Run a specific saved search. Select and highlight the search that you wish to perform. Press the "Search" button to perform the saved search. 6.6 Viewing New Searches The "New Items" window will show only new search auctions. 6.6.1 Add Auction to Tracker Individual auctions can be added to the "Auctions" window using the "Add To Tracker" button. 6.6.2 Marking an auction as read The "Mark Read" button will mark the selected auction as read. 6.6.3 Marking all read The "Mark All" button will mark all the auctions in the search as read. 6.6.4 Open Browser The "Open Browser" button will open the selected auction in the default system browser. 7. Warranties & Updates For the latest news and updates, please visit our web site at: http://www.silentsniper.com 8. License Agreement See the attached documentation for the license agreement. 9. Questions? Any questions or questions or bug reports should be sent to support@silentsniper.com. Bug reports should be specific, including any problems experience, and any related searches or auction numbers. 10. Troubleshooting Silent Sniper is unable to open a database? The database have either been moved, or have become corrupted. The databases should be in the same folder as the Silent Sniper program. Do not move or rename the databases folder. Otherwise, Silent Sniper will not fuction. If the database becomes corrupted, reinstall Silent Sniper. An error message appears when adding an item. Some users have reported that they are unable to add a new auction immediately after opening Silent Sniper for the first time. If you get an error message that the "database is missing or corrupted", then reopen Silent Sniper, and create a new search. Once the search is complete, select an item to add from the new searches window. Once you have added at least one item, it should be possible to now add tracker items using the add new item window. An auction is showing up in the tracker window with no title or other information? It is possible that the auction no longer exists. Sometimes, auctions are deleted before the ending time due to the seller's violation of auction policies. Other times, the updating window is interrupted, and unable to update an auction. To solve this problem, run the update window again, or update items individually through the "View Item" window. An auction is shown closed, but time still remains? Try updating the auction time using Control-T. There will always be a slight variation due to network time travel. Silent Sniper crashes while searching, updating or bidding? Try increasing the memory allocation, particularly if large searches are causing Silent Sniper to crash.